6 Reasons Why Microsoft Needs To Nail E3 2017

It’s been a tough three-and-a-half years for Microsoft. Though the Xbox One has been selling fairly well (even outpacing the Xbox 360 this time last generation), its biggest competitor, Sony’s PS4, has been selling astronomically. Optically, the Xbox One is “losing” the console war and it’s proved to be an uphill struggle for Phil Spencer and his team to claw back goodwill and positive mindshare from the jaws of Xbox One’s poorly conceived original vision back in 2013. Like all companies, Microsoft has its fair share of detractors. That said, one thing I think we can all agree on is that having healthy competition within the gaming industry is a very good thing for everyone — if the market was monopolized by a single company, then that would be a veritable recipe for disaster for all who participate in the delights that only video games can offer. We need competition to help push the industry forward and to keep those multi-conglomerate corporations in check. Even though I haven’t switched on my Xbox One for many weeks, I do genuinely want more reasons to do just that. As such, I, and many more, will be rooting for Microsoft when their executives hit the stage this coming June. They need to come out swinging if they hope to walk away in a good position though, and here are 6 reasons why this E3 might be one of the most important yet for the company. 1) Microsoft Are Still Recovering From Don Mattrick’s Disastrous 2013 Console Reveal Microsoft’s 2013 E3 reveal can be summed up with three things: TV, Sport and Call of Duty. The MEMEs, the GIFs, the constant tirade of jokes — it was an unequivocal disaster. Adding insult to injury was a mandatory Kinect peripheral bundled in — which few consumers actually wanted — and a price-point that overshot their closest competitor by around 100 bucks. Microsoft should have known better. Thankfully, Don Mattrick — head boss and public face of the Xbox brand who oversaw the console’s notorious reveal on-stage — departed from the company and fresh blood was injected into the Xbox’s management by virtue of a newly promoted, fresh-faced Phil Spencer. Over time, he and his team have, against all odds, re-built the Xbox brand and undone much of the damage that was caused during the infamous 2013 console reveal and catapulted the product back on course. Or at least, as much as Spencer could possibly manage following the damage that had already been done by Don Mattrick. Essentially, Phil Spencer’s helped steady the good ship Xbox, but the company will need momentum to propel themselves forward if they want to go toe-to-toe with Sony and, to a lesser degree, Nintendo. 2) The PS4 Continues To Go From Strength To Strength Like I mentioned earlier, the PS4 is on target to becoming one of the biggest selling home consoles of all-time, rubbing shoulders with the likes of the mighty Wii (101.63 million), PS1 (102.49 million) and the monumental PS2 (155 million), respectively. The latest sales figures put the PS4 around the 60 million mark, while the Xbox One sits around the 30 million mark, which means that there are around twice as many PS4s out in the wild compared to Xbox Ones. Even though Xbox One is selling fairly well (outselling its predecessor, the Xbox 360 within the same timeframe), there’s no denying that this is optically a very big problem for the Redmond-based company. So, how has the PS4 achieved such huge success? Well, that’s surprisingly simple. Sony has doubled down on one simple thing: video games. Yep, who would’ve thought that people who buy consoles want to play video games on their home consoles. Shocking, right? At the beginning of this generation, Microsoft completely misunderstood this and instead doubled down on TV, Sport and Call of Duty. The company severely misread the market, and paid harshly for doing so. Going into 2017 has been a reminder of just how strong PS4’s first, second and third party relationships are. The seeds have been sewn and these seeds have come to fruition in the form of a jaw-dropping showcase of excellent console exclusives, such as Gravity Rush 2, Nioh, The Last Guardian, Nier: Automata, Horizon Zero Dawn and Persona 5. And those are the console exclusive games that are out now. Sony have also been busy building up an incredible slate of upcoming exclusive games penciled in for the foreseeable future, such as Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, Days Gone, Detroit: Become Human, The Last of Us: Part 2, God of War and Death Stranding. There’s a reason why Sony has dominated this generation, and there’s a reason why Microsoft want to desperately move on and reset the clock with a brand new console (more on this shortly). 3) The Switch Has Hit The Ground Running After unspectacular sales of Nintendo’s Wii U (for context, even Sony’s PS Vita outsold it), the Japan-based company went back to the drawing board with its tail firmly between its legs and came up with the Switch, a handheld/home console/local multiplayer hybrid. The Switch is a marvellous piece of hardware and one that I’m incredibly enamoured with. It’s gotten off to a fantastic start, becoming the fastest selling Nintendo console in the US. The Switch looks set to be Nintendo’s biggest hit since the Wii and has even managed to catapult the company’s share-price to a seven-year high. You could argue that the Switch isn’t in direct competition with Microsoft’s Xbox One, but instead ploughs its own unique furrow. The Big N often skews for a younger audience and openly aspires to be a secondary console option for gamers who wish to complement their “primary” Xbox Ones or PS4s. However, in terms of mindshare and sales, they're still undoubtedly in the mix, jostling with both Sony and Microsoft. Though Microsoft is the company that seriously needs to whip out a few aces from up its sleeve and show its hand this E3, Nintendo also need to come out guns blazing in order to maximise momentum with their own brand new console hybrid. Suffice it to say, Both Nintendo and Microsoft have a lot to prove at this June's E3. 4) Microsoft’s Exclusive Franchises Are Growing Stale Out of the big three, Microsoft arguably have the least compelling first-party portfolio. There’s simply only so many times the company can keep going back to the well with Halo, Gears and Forza. Microsoft desperately needs new IP. It needs fresh, new franchises and it needs something big, bold and surprising at this year’s E3 to help silence their detractors and steal the show. Franchise fatigue has started to set in, and fans want something fresh to play on their Xbox Ones. Microsoft’s internal developers should be encouraged to take risks, brainstorm new ideas and should be given the freedom to create something original. These developers are some of the smartest people in the industry and Microsoft should let them off the reins to craft something new, something unique and something different. Another Halo, Gears or Forza just won’t cut the mustard this year. 5) Cancelling Scalebound And Fable: Legends Was Disappointing Two large triple-A titles have been dangled in front of the public's eyes like big, juicy carrots, only to be whipped away and cancelled deep into their development cycles: Platinum Games' Scalebound and Lionhead Studio's Fable: Legends. Sure, game cancellations happen quite a lot within the industry and there’s a fair few titles that end up forever buried in video game purgatory (Silent Hills’ cancellation broke my heart). That said, it’s much rarer for this to happen with console exclusives. For me, Platinum Games' Scalebound was a particularly disappointing cancellation as the Xbox One has a pretty thin level of support from Eastern-based developers. There’s simply not that many Japanese developers working on Xbox One games and Scalebound helped buck this trend. Microsoft, if you’re going to erase promising games from your release schedule, you’d better be prepared to replace them with something special in the future. 6) Microsoft Needs To Build Momentum To Help Push Scorpio Ahh, the Scorpio; the world’s most powerful 4K home console. This is going to be a very important play for Phil Spencer and his team. Will we get a release date? A price? Will Microsoft show off the physical unit? Well, one thing you can bet your bottom dollar on, is that the company will need to price the Scorpio astutely. My gut feeling is that anything over 500 bucks is going to be a no-go and that realistically, the company may have to eat profit on every unit sold to help get the ball rolling and grab audience mindshare. Though the PS4 Pro, Sony’s comparable 4K iterative hardware refresh, is already out in the wild and selling fairly well, the Scorpio’s monstrously beefy specs leave the PS4 Pro somewhat in the dust. There’s quite a positive buzz surrounding the Scorpio, but it desperately needs to be priced right to gain the traction that Microsoft so clearly needs. At the end of the day, I truly want Microsoft to succeed. Heck, I want all three companies to succeed. But the time is right for Microsoft to step up to the plate and hit a home run this coming E3. Because man, the Xbox One brand bloody needs it right now.